Casstrom Woodsman

The Casstrom Woodsman range is the result of a ‘custom collaboration’ between Roger Harrington of ‘Bison Bushcraft’ and ‘The Wilderness Gathering’ fame and Casstrom Knives and comprises Roger Harrington’s very popular ‘Woodsman’ design knife, reproduced in high carbon steel in both Bog Oak or Curly Birch handles and with either plain sheaths or sheaths with fire steels attached.

The knife is tough and strong, is easy to sharpen in the field and takes an excellent edge that is not prone to rolling or chipping and has proved well up to heavy use such as batoning – even across the grain of seasoned hardwood. The Woodsman is equally at home with the more mundane tasks of food preparation (though take care cutting carrots, the rounds can ‘ping’ away from the blade), and whittling, and cuts easily through flesh, hide, sinew etc.

The point, with its fairly obtuse shaping, is very strong for tough work, but the shape also restricts penetration, so carving holes in wood or fine carving is not this knife’s strong point (pun intended!) while the squared spine of the knife is excellent for producing showers of sparks from a ferro rod fire steel.

The handle has proved very comfortable in even prolonged use and in the full range of grips commonly used and was excellent for crushing the nodes on nettle stems when I was making cordage. However, I do not like cords or lanyards on knives (except when working at heights or over deep water), so I removed the cord provided with the knife.

The sheath complements the knife perfectly, proving practical, handsome and secure, but as I like a ‘low carry’, I added a Casstrom No. 3 dangler karabiner and belt loop.

In all, I have found the Casstrom, Roger Harrington Design, Woodsman Knife to be a strong, practical, handsome, comfortable knife for bushcrafting use that should last a lifetime of hard field use and boasts an excellent ‘fit-andfinish’, as well as great function.